


The Things We Do to Survive

by Raquiesha



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/F, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28531689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raquiesha/pseuds/Raquiesha
Summary: When death is near, a night can be enough.
Relationships: Cara Dune & Fennec Shand, Cara Dune/Fennec Shand
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	The Things We Do to Survive

**Author's Note:**

> Don't even ask. Unedited babble because I'm procrastinating uni haha.  
> I should be ashamed since this is crude, shitty writing BUT posting it here will force me to go through the whole thing and improve it as soon as my exams are over. rip.
> 
> PS. I know literally nothing about Star Wars DS.
> 
> PS2. I might have made Toro into a bit of a manchild, but I hate him so it's OK. DS2.
> 
> PS3. And some OOC-warning for Fennec and Cara. Might fix it later. Idk. DS3.

Before her, there was an endless stretch of fucking nothing. Cara righted her scope, smothering a frustrated huff, and let her gaze wander across the arid landscape. Grains of pain (or as Mando called it, sand) were in her hair, shoes, ears -- even her damn navel. 

“I should have stayed,” she repeated to herself and briefly closed her eyes, just as she had done so many times before. Sorgan, with all its mosquitos, swamps, and peasants, was paradise compared to Tatooine. She _had_ contemplated settling there, taking an early retirement of sorts. But, when it was obvious that Omera only had eyes for Mando, and when the villagers she just risked her life and limb defending continued to eye her warily, she had thought better of it. 

The twin suns glared hotly at her, and the rifle scorched her hands as she searched for the assassin. She didn’t spot her, only the dewback dragging its handler away from them. The distant creature was only a dot in her scope. She puffed a small sigh. The days they had spent tracking their target had thus far only led to her acquiring a sun rash. She was, in all frankness, quite unhappy with her situation, but what else was she to do? Mando and Little Green were all she had now, however brief their relationship now was to be. Cara rolled her shoulders, trying to ease her muscles. One job at a time, she reminded herself. There was no use thinking ahead. Or back. 

“Huh?” 

“Nothing,” Cara said, not bothering to glance at Toro Calican. 

He scoffed. If it wasn’t for the suns, Cara would have thought his presence was the reason her blood practically boiled. 

“I heard you,” he teased. 

Cara rolled her eyes, dignifying him with a quick look. “I hate this fucking planet, that’s all.”

“Well,” he agreed, giving her a wink, “we finally have something in common, then.”

“Shut up.” Cara returned to her scope, her finger resting on the trigger. 

The target was on the other side of the valley, watching them. Cara imagined she could feel Fennec Shand’s gaze on her.

She suppressed a shiver. They were trapped, at least until nightfall. And, if it was something she didn’t like, it was being trapped, or at least, the feeling of being trapped.

Her finger soothingly stroked the trigger. Perhaps that was the true reason she left Sorgan and every single place before. 

A water bottle thumped down next to her, spraying her face with sand. “Here, take this,” Toro said with a small smile. “Looks like you need it.”

Cara growled and tried to rub the sand from her sore eyes. “What every girl wants to hear,” she muttered but took a drink without further ado. She was, after all, not ‘every girl’, and she admitted that the sun-warmed water tasted better than anything she ever had. “Thanks.”

“Ah, no problem,” Toro said. He hesitated, gazing over the dead plains ahead of them. “You can rest some if you want,” he added and jerked his chin in Mando’s direction. He slept sitting, leaning against one of the three dusty Zephyr-J speeder bikes. When he first placed himself there he had been slightly shaded, but now the suns had shifted. Cara wondered if he not had died, silently boiled to death inside the beskar steel. 

“Why? It looks like I need it, huh?” Cara asked, raising a brow.

Toro shrugged a little, grinning. “I’ll better stay quiet.”

“Finally! But, you know, I think I’ll take that offer.” Cara rolled about, rifle in hand, and slid down the slope where they kept vigil. 

“Aye, aye.” Toro returned to his scope, closing one of his eyes. “Do so.”

Cara strode up to Mando, tossed her rifle to the ground, and was about to nudge him with her foot when he spoke. “No need for that,” he said. 

Cara chuckled, ignoring how tense her skin had become. “Glad you’re alive.” 

Mando hummed, and Cara fell down beside him. 

“Thinking about Little Green?” Cara wondered after a few moments of comfortable silence, quiet enough so that Toro didn’t hear. 

“Yes, but not only,” he said, giving a small nod. The tracking fob he clutched in his hand blinked rhythmically. Their target hadn’t moved. “Sorgan.”

“Me too,” Cara admitted, leaning her head against the speeder bike. She hissed -- it felt as if the metal burned her scalp. “But I guess you don’t think about all the water.”

"No.” He paused, then, “He could’ve been happy there.”

Cara looked at Mando, as if trying to see the face behind the mask. “Or,” Cara said carefully, “you could?”

Mando didn’t respond. Cara had gotten used to it, by now. It wasn’t that Mando was rude -- he was far from it, but only that sometimes words were excessive. 

“At nightfall,” he suddenly said, rising to his feet, “we’ll try to advance.”

“Not that I fear death, but …” Cara gestured with her hands. “We’re easy targets out there.”

“I have a few flash charges.” Mando stretched his neck from side to side. “She’ll be blinded.”

“Temporarily.” Cara wiped away some sweat from her brow. “Not that I say no to a challenge.” Her eyes darted to Toro’s back. “You think he can do it?”

Mando turned to look at him, as well. “He has no choice.” Mando brought forth his rifle, about to go and take Cara’s vacant spot beside him. “I’ll try to prepare for him. Get some sleep.” 

*

On the other side of the valley, it was deadly quiet, save from the cry of a faraway animal. While Cara dozed off in the blazing heat with sweat pouring down her back, Fennec spotted the occasional glares from her hunters’ scopes and binoculars through the slit of her helmet. She hadn’t moved in hours, barely breathed. She knew the bounty hunters soon would come for her. The price on her head was too high not to. As another bead of perspiration trickled down to her eye, making it sting, she only blinked, waiting the pain out.

She was good at waiting. It was all she knew.

*

“Cara, wake up.” Mando put a gentle hand on her shoulder, rousing her awake. “We’re good to go now.”

She blinked a couple of times. Her skin was burned, but the tiny hairs on her arms prickled. She thought it was a wonder she had not dreamt of eating a bloody carrot, the way her teeth chattered.  
“For fuck’s sake,” she moaned, hugging herself. “One minute it's an oven here, the next a freezer?”

Toro towered over her. “I would’ve tucked you in, but, you know.” He grinned again, dragging a hand through his hair, before hoisting his rifle up the air. “I’m soon in the Guild! If only you got up and we could get out _there_.” He cocked his head in the direction of the valley, his eyes wide and wild.

“Don’t get too excited,” Cara said severely as Mando offered her a hand, getting her up. “It’s dangerous.”

Toro’s grin vanished at that, his eyes flickering between hers and Mando’s. “No, no, of course not,” he said, chastised. 

“Here.” Mando gave her a couple of stun grenades. “We’ll take turns firing them.”

Cara gave a curt nod and put them on her belt, her lips thin. She gave a glance up the night sky, looking at the glimmering stars. Somehow, it seemed impossible to die when the sky around her was so eerily calm. Perhaps, she thought, she wouldn’t be so hard on Toro. He was young, inexperienced. She had been like him too, once. Before everything and everyone she loved blew to pieces. “Let’s get it over with.”

With her heart beating hard in her chest, they clambered on top of their vehicles, guns, and grenades at close hand.

“And Toro,” Mando said, accelerating loudly.

“Yeah?”  
“Drive fast.”

*

Fennec Shand had, for as long as she remembered, lived knowing this day would come. When she found herself with two guns trained at her, she contemplated putting a bullet in her skull, succumbing to darkness. Death, so swift and easy, couldn’t possibly be worse than the future that awaited her. Shackled, trialed, tortured -- she didn’t know, didn’t want to think about it. 

But she _did_ know that death was final, and as long as she breathed, she still had a chance. So she tossed her weapons to the ground. 

“The knife too,” the female bounty hunter said, pointing with the tip of her gun at Fennec’s boots. 

Fennec smiled wanly at that. Of course, they were professionals -- they had, after all, caught her. She reached down her boot and brought the knife up by its hilt. If only one of them looked away, only for a second, she would be able to take them down. 

“Now,” the Mandalorian pressed firmly.

Fennec reluctantly threw her knife away, watching it land at the Mandalorian’s feet. 

The female bounty hunter, obscured in the night, stepped forward. “Hands,” she ordered, already waiting with stun cuffs.

Fennec obediently brought forth her wrists. “Congratulations,” she said airily. “How rich did I just made you?”

“Not enough,” the woman muttered. Fennec didn’t wince as the cuffs clicked together, sealing her fate. “You destroyed two of our bikes.”

“One,” Fennec corrected. Her eyes narrowed in amusement as she gave Toro a glance. He scowled back at her. “This young man crashed all by himself.”

The woman stood close enough for Fennec to see her features. A small surge of victory ran through her as the bounty hunter sent her a private smile. 

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “Not at all.”

The rush disappeared as Fennec suddenly jerked forward, nearly losing her footing. She scolded herself for not noticing being leashed to her captor. Around her cuffs were a knot of rope, connected with the woman’s pants. It only took a moment before she suppressed a triumphant scoff. The list of things she could do with a rope was endless.

The Mandalorian was already in the making of nursing a small fire, and the woman pointed to the ground beside the flames, jerking the rope again. “Sit.”

Fennec seated herself on the still sun-warm sand and couldn’t help but bite back an angry retort. If it was a dog they wished to see, she thought, then I’ll be rabid. 

*

Toro was glaring at the dying flames, occasionally touching his swollen nose. Fennec had almost ended his life before she and Mando came to his rescue, and his pride was wounded. Cara shook her head a little, hoping he had learned something from the experience.

Propped on her shoulder, eating gruel that made her nose crinkle with disgust, Cara’s gaze returned to Fennec, and she regarded her with not a little bit of regret. The idea to tie them together with a piece of rope had come as an epiphany, and she had thought herself clever. Now, however, she was beginning to realize all the disadvantages. She reminisced the many times she had found herself strangled, and unhappily she mused that there was a certain probability she and Toro had more in common than she would’ve believed. 

Sure, Fennec wouldn’t be able to escape without alerting her somehow but to get a minute or two of sleep had gone out of the question. Cara frowned. 

While Mando had left to find the dewback, Toro stayed behind. As long as she wasn’t alone with Fennec she supposed it would go well. She took another spoonful of gruel in her mouth.

“What?” Fennec asked coldly.

Cara swallowed, surprised. Fennec had been quiet for hours. “What do you mean, ‘what’?” 

“You’re staring.”

“I’m not.”

Fennec quirked a brow. “You are.”

“No.” 

“You were, at least.” Fennec gave the tiniest of sighs, looking longingly at the gruel. “Did your Bounty Guild advise you to starve me?”

“ _My_ Bounty Guild?” Cara asked at first, bewildered. “Ah, not what I know. I’m not a bounty hunter.”

“Really,” Fennec said dryly, looking at her cuffed hands. “Well, that explains a lot.”

Cara’s voice was wary when she said, “Such as?”

“Such as you not seeing you already possess a much better prize than me.” 

Cara chuckled mirthlessly. “I doubt it. And, even if we did, we’re not doing this for money.” She pointedly showed the tattoo on her arm. “It’s more personal than that.”

“A rebel. I should have known.” 

Cara shrugged her shoulders. “What do you want to eat? I have more of this,” She gestured towards her bowl, “though it barely can be called food. Hmm ... “ She cleared her throat. “Toro? Toro!”

He stirred to life. His brows were furrowed, making him look slightly frustrated. “What is it?”

“Do you have an energy bar or something? She needs to eat.”

“It isn’t like she would die,” Toro muttered, searching his pack anyway. “But here.” He threw Cara the bar. 

Cara peeled away the plastic and cautiously said, “Don’t try anything, Shand.”

Fennec gave a tense smile. “Of course not.”

Cara shuffled closer, wary of even the smallest of movements. Toro watched over her, a hand on his gun, his muscles tensed. Cara pushed the melted blub of a bar onto Fennec’s hands and immediately retreated. 

Not that Cara would’ve needed to worry, because at that moment Fennec only had eyes for the bar. She knew she needed the energy. 

*

Cara leaned against her pack, studying the woman in front of her, her arms folded on her chest. 

Fennec sat in the same position as she had the last couple of hours, her back straight as a rod. She didn’t even bother to look at Cara as she said, “You are staring at me again.”

“Am I?” Cara shook her head. “Well, I’d be dumb not to.”

“Perhaps.” Fennec brought her cuffed hands to the sand, cupping a handful, silting it between her gloved fingers. “I wonder,” she continued after a few moments, “why aren’t you just killing me? It would be much easier.”

Cara tilted her head ever so slightly, shifting her weight. “Perhaps,” she echoed. “But it isn’t what we do. They want you alive, anyway.”

“Why isn’t it what you do, then?” Fennec’s hands stilled. “You are no bounty hunter, yet you are here, hunting me for credits. You are an enigma. Intriguing.” Her shrewd eyes met Cara’s, and Cara shivered. Fennec looked regal where she sat, her hard eyes piercing. Cara lowered her gaze. A memory of Omera and Winta flashed by in her mind, the hopeless dream of a future that never was hers to have. 

“You are no stranger to being the harbinger of death,” Fennec continued coolly, “otherwise you wouldn’t have a rebel tattoo on your arm. Nevertheless, you are here, refusing to end my life, when you know that would be a mercy.”

Cara’s eyes flicked back to Fennec’s. “Mercy?” she scoffed. “You don’t deserve mercy. You deserve only justice.”

“Justice?” Fennec rolled her tongue against her dry gum. “I am a weapon. Can you blame a weapon for killing?” 

Cara growled. “When the said weapon is human, yes.”

“Says the one who has killed, herself. Let me guess. You were a mercenary?”

Cara didn’t respond.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Fennec wetted her parched, salt-crusted bottom lip. “How are you different from me? How dare you sit there and judge me?”

Cara leaned forward, placing her arms on her knees, narrowing her eyes. “Careful, now, Shand.”

“It is not I who sits and acts morally superior.” Fennec snapped her gloved fingers. 

“I only killed those who deserved it,” Cara defended herself, her voice a low thunder. 

“And I assume it was your employer who decided that?”

“Shut up.” Cara glowered. 

Fennec huffed and fell back, gazing at the stars. She had grown accustomed to the freezing cold, by now, and didn’t long for dawn to return with the blazing suns. “What’s my bounty?”

“I said shut up.” Cara leaned back, contemplating. It could do no harm telling. “Ten thousand credits.”

“I am disappointed. I expected it to be more.”

*

“It’s taking him an awfully long time to find that beast of burden. You think he abandoned you?”

“No.” 

“The Mandalorian is worth much more than I. I can help you bring him in.”

“No.”

“I take it you don’t trust me.”

“Correct.”

Fennec turned her head toward Cara, who was focusing on cleaning her guns. “They have an active tracker on you, too?”

“Don’t waste your breath, assassin. You can’t manipulate me.”

“Rebel, if you want to be a bounty hunter, you must get better at lying.”

“I don’t.”

“Believe me, you do.”

“I meant I don’t want to be a bounty hunter. I’m retired.”

“Right.” 

*

“Sun’s soon up,” Toro said, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles, his hair ruffled. In a hushed whisper, he asked Cara, “Do we need to worry?”

“Mando’s a big boy. He can take care of himself,” she said, sounding unconvinced.

Toro sighed and pushed himself up to his feet, stretching his arms before taking a few long strides. With his back against them, he unzipped his pants.

“Fuck’s sake, Toro,” Cara groaned. “Go a little further, please. I can handle her for a minute or two.”

He looked back at her over his shoulder, grinning. “You sure? This ain’t something you haven’t seen before.”

Involuntarily, Cara returned his smile. “And I still have nightmares about it.” 

“All right, but I’ll do it only because you said please.”

“Thank you.” Cara watched as he strutted away, her hand resting on her gun. All her cleaning had been in vain -- the weapon's many, small slits were already covered with dust and grains of sand. Fennec watched her, and Cara swore she saw the gears turn inside her mind. Cara narrowed her eyes. Fennec was planning something.

“Handle me?” Fennec asked resentfully. “You speak as if I am some animal to tame.”

“I don’t even know what you’re blabbering about,” Cara said tiredly, “and I honestly couldn’t care less.”

“Want to know what I think?” Fennec said, not waiting for a response. “I think your problem is the opposite. You care too much. I see it in your eyes. You have the heart of a poet, if you ask me.”

“Fuck you,” Cara said, grasping the gun a little harder. 

“I stand corrected.” Fennec shifted her position, her shoulders aching. “Your accent reveals you’re Alderaanian? It would explain it.” Her voice was soft as butter, and Cara tried to hide her wince. Fennec didn’t miss it. “I can only imagine your sorrow. A whole planet just… vanishing.”

“We’re still here,” Cara said quietly. “We’re not gone.”

Fennec’s pale smile looked sympathetic enough. She made a gesture at her own cheek. “The tattoo beneath your eye. Is it Alderaanian?”

“Hey, I’m back!” Toro whistled, interrupting any answer Cara might’ve given. “Ah, and you’re both still alive. Nice.” He sought Cara’s eyes. “You need to go?”

Cara hesitated, eyes darting between them. “I do, but be careful,” she whispered, pressing both the gun and the end of the rope in his hands. “She’s a sneaky one.”

“I know.” He rolled his eyes. “I heard you talking all night. She’s got you around her finger.”

“Not true,” Cara said.

“A little true?” Toro smiled wryly. “Go now,” he said reassuringly. “What can happen?”

“Don’t peek,” Cara said and went off.

*

Fennec’s heart pounded in her chest. Time was closing in on her, and she hadn’t made much process. 

“What did you mean earlier?” Toro said casually, nervously swinging the gun in his hand.

“That depends to which part you’re referring?” Fennec asked, raising a questioning brow.

“About Mando.”

“Ah.” Fennec looked down on her cuffed hands. “Last I heard, they searched for a Mandalorian worth fifteen thousand credits. The price might have gone up since.”

“Fifteen?” He licked his lips, his eyes wide with surprise. Then, his voice weak, “I don’t do this for credits.”

Fennec snorted. “You too. Enlighten me on why you are capturing me then, if not for credits? Were you also a Rebel, and now hunt poor, once opportunistic mercs?”

“No.” He paused. “To get into the Bounty Hunters Guild,” he admitted. “Giving you in would be impressive enough to let me join.”

“Me? Why me, when the Mandalorian would be much more impressive. Legendary, even. I heard the Mandalorian betrayed the Guild for a child worth more than both our heads together. What would they say if they knew you cooperated with him?”

Toro raked his hair, looking harried. “He did?”

“Yes. It seems he wasn’t being honest with you.” Fennec hid a smirk. “You won’t be able to take him yourself,” she continued truthfully. To her, it was obvious he was an inexperienced fighter, let alone bounty hunter. “You need me, because I sincerely doubt your friend will aid you.” She sent the dark silhouette of the hunkering Cara a look. His eyes followed, and his expression darkened. 

“You’re right,” he said, tugging the rope. “She wouldn’t.” 

Fennec lost her balance, and as blood began to course her temples, she saw him training the gun at her.

Only one thought crossed her mind, and it was that her plan had failed.

Then he pulled the trigger.

*

Cara was pulling up her pants when a loud, sudden blast lit up the darkness. She pivoted around, heart in her throat, and ran.

“Toro!” she screamed, “Toro!” Fear burned through her entire being.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” he called back, his voice unsteady. He stared at the black-clothed bundle at his feet, dark blood pouring over the sand. 

“What happened?” Cara asked panting, when she reached him. 

“She just… attacked me.” Toro shivered. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”

Cara crouched beside Fennec, putting two fingers against her bared neck. She was still warm. Just as she was about to remove her hand, she felt it. A faint throbbing against her fingertips. Fennec lived.

“Toro! She’s alive.” She scurried to her pack, bringing forth the first aid kit. Swiftly, with deft fingers that had done this multiple times before, she began to rip apart Fennec’s armor.

“Put pressure on her wound,” Cara said, reaching for a bandage.

“No.”

Another gunshot. Cara felt her body flinch with the impact. She coughed, falling down on all fours, clasping the sand beneath her.

“I’m sorry,” Toro said behind her back. “It had to be done.” 

Astonished, she grasped at her chest. Her blistered fingers touched wet blood. 

With wide eyes, she saw Toro nonchalantly grab her and Fennec’s bags, carrying them to the last, functioning speeder bike, whistling. He paused his steps and picked up Fennec’s helmet, studying it for a short moment, before taking it as well. 

“I really am,” he repeated, giving Cara a long look. Then he drove off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

She had been betrayed. Cara closed her eyes, knowing she never was to open them again.

***

One second, one minute, one hour. Time loses meaning when death is around.

***

Something had changed. Cara could smell it. It was the kind of smell that couldn’t be washed away, the kind of smell that haunted all living beings, sentient or not.

It was the smell of impending death. 

To die in the desert was like drowning, she thought, addled. Her shallow, agonizing breaths, as she tried to cling onto life, only filled her burning lungs with dust. 

She couldn’t move. The suns mocked her through her closed eyelids, and at that moment, her existence was naught but an incanadine premonition of withering life. 

A pill was put in her mouth, a bottle against her lips. The contact stung. Few drops of liquid trickled down her mouth. She savored it, opening her mouth a little more, wanting to drench herself in it, swallowing the pill. 

“I fear can’t give you more,” a voice croaked over her. “We need to save as much water we can.” The person moved; Cara could hear the shifting of sand, and the person let out a pained groan. “We are on our own now, you see,” the voice continued morosely. “The Mandalorian thought we were dead and left. Not that I can blame him. We practically are.”

Cara wanted the voice to quiet. She wanted to sleep.

“You must wake up,” the person continued mercilessly, not louder than a whisper. “I…” The voice broke. “You tried to save me. l am honor-bound to do the same for you.” 

Cara tensed her body, forcing herself to open her crusted eyes. The world was blurry around her.

“Mother?” she asked bemused, seeing the figure looming beside her.

A mirthless, dry, chortle erupted, before abruptly ending in a coughing fit. “I hope not.”

Her vision became clearer, and her eyes fell on her unexpected savior. “Shand,” she breathed out, before trying to look about. They were in some sort of makeshift tent, with white sheets that protected them from the suns’ whipping rays. A humble store of fluid replacement bottles was lined up against one of the walls, next to a heap of vacuum-stored dried meat. She recognized the first aid kit that lay by her bare feet -- it was her own.

“I had a bag hidden not far from here,” Shand explained, clutching at her stomach. She bore nothing but a sweat-sodden t-shirt, covered in flecks of dried blood, and loose-fitting pants. Cara hinted a brown-colored bandage wrapped around Fennec’s stomach. “Nearly died trying to reach it,” she added, her face contorting in a grimace. 

“How bad is it?” Cara asked, shutting her eyes closed, every word tiring her. 

“Your shoulder’s wrecked,” Fennec said. “I have tried to keep it clean, but there is only so much I can do.” 

“Mmh.” Cara felt the world slipping away from her and returned to sleep. 

*

The next time she woke up her teeth chattered. A small, blue lamp shone next to her head, the only source of light. Her head pounded angrily, and Cara suspected dehydration. She was covered by a blanket, and on her uninjured side lay Fennec, naked save but from underwear and bandage. 

“Water,” Cara forced herself to say. “Water.”

Fennec didn’t move. If it weren’t for the irregular rise and falls of her chest, Cara would’ve thought she perished. Instead of waking Fennec up, she bit her tongue, propping herself up. Her shoulder roared, and Cara hitched on a breath, stilling herself until most of the pain subdued, before dragging herself to the bottles.

She grabbed one, uncorked it, and took a couple of swigs, willing herself not to drink too much. Smacking her mouth, no longer as dry, she already felt a bit more clear-headed.

“Shand?” she asked, corking the bottle closed, but Fennec still didn’t react. Then, more to herself, she said, “Why did you help me?” 

She made a decision then, and took a deep, preparing breath. Putting the top of the bottle between her teeth, she used her healthy arm to pull herself to Fennec’s side. She gently placed a palm on Fennec’s clammy cheek.

“Fennec, can you hear me?” she asked, softly. 

Cara repeated herself a little higher, and let out a relieved puff of air as Fennec’s eyes fluttered open. Cara was taken aback as she stared into the abyssal eyes of her former captive. Somehow, she hadn’t believed Fennec could’ve looked vulnerable or afraid, but she certainly did now. 

“I haven’t heard my name in so long,” Fennec said, smiling sadly. “How are you feeling?” 

“A little better.” Cara glanced at her shoulder. “Hurts like hell, though.”

Fennec gave a small nod. “There’s a few more painkillers in that kit.” 

Cara regarded Fennec in the soft light. “Do you need one?”

“No, don’t waste them on me.” Fennec winced. “I’m going to die here.”

“You're not.” Cara moved her gaze to the miscolored bandage. “I should at least change your bandage.” 

“No use. It’s already infected.” Glistening beads of perspiration stood upon her wrinkled forehead. “I sealed the wound with embers from the campfire. I’m not sure why I’m still able to speak. I…” She wetted her lips, eyes flickering. “I can _feel_ the sickness spreading.” Her hand grasped Cara’s, lowering it from her cheek. “I want you to know I didn’t attack your friend.”

“Toro?” Cara gritted her teeth, anger whirling in her guts. “He isn’t my friend, exactly.”

“But I would’ve, given the chance,” Fennec continued, squeezing Cara’s hand. 

“I know,” Cara said, returning the squeeze. 

“He is going after the Mandalorian. I told him to.”

“I know.” 

“You should leave when morning comes. It’s your only chance." She made a small, sweeping gesture about the tent. "You may bring everything you need.”

Cara regarded her. “Despite everything, I’m not just going to leave you here.”

Fennec unclasped their hands. “You will. There’s a small village half a day from here. They can help you.”

Cara rubbed at her neck. Fennec was right. Their rations would last only a day or two with the scorching heat. “I’m coming back for you,” Cara promised and lay down beside Fennec, staring up at the ceiling. 

“I’d rather die here than in prison,” Fennec said. “I’m not exactly fit for escaping.”

“You’re resourceful, I’m sure you’ll find a way.” Cara moved closer to Fennec, trying to snatch a bit of her body heat. Fennec moaned as she grasped the blanket, throwing it to Cara. 

An odd-looking lizard skittered across the sand outside the tent, briefly illuminated by the lamp. 

“Tell me something,” Fennec said after a while, her body trembling. 

“What would you like to know?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable telling?”

Cara was quiet for a few beats. “I nearly settled on Sorgan instead of following Mando,” she said. 

“Sorgan.” Fennec didn’t care to hide the disgust in her voice.

Cara laughed a little. “Yes, Sorgan. I was naive, for a minute believing I could've a future that didn’t involve killing. I dreamt of a simple life, like the one I had before Alderaan … was destroyed. A family to call my own again. I’m... sick of being alone.”

“I can't believe they wiped out an entire planet.” Cara heard Fennec inhaling a shuddering breath. “That’s why you joined the Alliance?”

“Yes.” She hesitated. “The few friends I had left died in service. You asked about my tattoo? It’s to make sure I never forget them, or where I come from. Though I, at times, wish I could forget.”

“Remembering is rarely easy.”

They fell back in silence. “I wish I had been on Sorgan with you,” Fennec said. “Having our own little krill farm, hiding from the world.”

“Killing mosquitos instead of people.” 

“Yes.” Cara heard the faint smile in Fennec’s voice. “I’m tired of being what I am, but I have done it for so long. It’s simple, taking a life. Dying is the easiest a man can do. The most natural a man can do.”

“We are running from ourselves, maybe,” Cara mused. “Taking jobs, traveling the galaxy.”

“Anything to forget,” Fennec agreed. “Anything not to feel. These are the things people like us do to survive." She sighed. "I can’t even remember when I last spoke with someone the way we do now.”

“Maybe it’s a start.” Cara turned her head, looking at Fennec. “For us both.”

*

Outside, the sky began to turn red. The twin suns were awakening.

“You should leave now,” Fennec said. “Take my bag.”

Cara nodded obediently, slowly packing. She left a few bottles and some food packages by Fennec’s side, carefully tucking her in. 

“I’ll come back for you.” Despite knowing better, she placed her cracked lips against Fennec’s sunburnt, salt-crusted brow. 

“You don’t have to,” Fennec whispered, but nevertheless, hope glittered in her feverish eyes. Tentatively, she put her arms around Cara’s neck, giving her a chaste kiss. Cara softened against her lips, not wanting it to end, afraid of reality. In this tent, surrounded by stale death, they both wanted to grasp whatever humanity they had left. “I wouldn’t like to kill you.”

“As if you could,” Cara scoffed, the edges of her eyes crinkled. 

“Not in this state,” Fennec admitted. 

Cara turned away, struggling to put her boots back on. “I have been thinking,” she said, trying to sound as casual as she could. “We could try to start a new life somewhere, together. Maybe not a krill farm, but …”

“Hey.” 

Cara looked back at Fennec, only to be silenced by two fingers against her lips. “Don’t say anything more. Let’s hold onto that dream, Carasynthia Dune.”

Cara gave a twitching smile, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “I already regret giving you my full name, Fennec Shand.”

Fennec closed her eyes. “I’m not fond of goodbyes, so don’t linger for my sake. You need to get your shoulder treated.” 

“I --”

“This is a farewell,” Fennec interrupted, not unkindly. “Leave before it’s too hot to walk.”

Cara, her steps wobbly and insecure, stopped right outside the tent, the bag thrown back over her healthy shoulder.

“I’ll come back as soon as I'm able.”

Fennec opened one of her eyes. She looked worse now, Cara thought concerned. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, but the next day, when Cara returned on a borrowed dewback, she was gone.


End file.
